“Dans’Artes” A documentary feature film on an artistic village in Mozambique

Choreographer Maria Helena Pinto of Maputo, Mozambique had a vision to create an artistic village in the neighboring town, Matola, called Dans’Artes. The passionate artist, who is fluent in 5 languages, was trained and has performed professionally all over the world, and is completing her doctorate in France in dance studies, with a focus on Mozambique, has begun the process of realizing that dream.

Dans’Artes offers international multidisciplinary artist residency opportunities, while engaging the Mozambiquan art’s communities. The African Consortium has already sponsored the first American choreographer to visit Dans’Artes in May, 2013. The documentary archives the realization of the dream of creating a “home for artists.” Despite all the odds facing Pinto, she advances on the vision because she values the contribution of artists and the role that a place like Dans’Artes can have in developing the arts scene across Africa, particularly southern Africa, where there are not artist oases such as these.

Jacqueline Cofield, the film producer and director, and cinematographer Kamali Minter traveled to Maputo in March 2013 to begin shooting the film, and conducted interviews with the Director of the National Museum of Mozambique, the President of the Mozambiquan association of filmmakers, AMOCINE artists, and guests at a March 16th day long artist showcase featuring theater, dance, music, and visual art.